Safety device for burners



Aug. 30,1949. E. RIEMENSCHNEIDER SAFETY DEVICE FOR BURNERS Filed July 27, 1946 I "irlrlrlliali'l.

lllillllllllll'lllll I N V EN TOR.

CRNEST RlEMENSCHNE/DER.

1977' ORA/E K Patented Aug. 30, 1949 2,480,772 I SAFETY- DEVICE FOR'ZBURN ER'Si- Ernest .Riemenschneider, Detroit, .Michi,'.assigifor;,

by decree of distribution, to ErnestMichael Ri e; menschneider; with National Bank of Jackson as'guardian- Application July- 27, 1946, SeriaiLNd-GSQGSSQ 3 Claims. (01; 67:85):

This inventionrelates .to burners. or; lamps, and more particularly to a safety. device for a burnerwherein means are provided. for. extinguishingv the burner flame before it ispossible to re-fuel. the. tank of theburnen.

Heretofore there have. been numerous accidents. includingv fires, and explosions. due to re-- fueling of the burner whilethere was still a. flame. on.-the burner wick. I

The present invention has for its principalob ject the provision of a suitable cover. or cap for the. filler spout ofthe burner together. with v means preventing its removal. until the burner wick has beendroppeddownto its IOWBStLQOSl. tion extinguishing theflame thereon.

It is the further object of this invention toprovide. means in conjunction with the filler spout oflthe fuel tank. whereby it isimpossibleto, elefvate. the burnerwick-without. first replacing, the: cover of the fuel tank.

It is-the further object of this inventiontoproe. Vida-manually,-operable-gearmeansfor raising and lowering a novel cap which. isslidably positioned within the filler spout ofthe lamptank, together with gear means: operated thereby which are joined to the conventional wickraising and low ering meanswhereby manual-rotation of the cap operating gear means efieets a corresponding, simultaneous operation in theopposite direction or; the. wick operating means;

It is the further object; of this; invention to provide a safety device for burners whereby. the. wick is lowered down into the lamp fully' extinguishing the flame-at the" same time as the filler cap is upwardly elevated for removal.

These and other objects will be seen from the following specification and claims in conjunction with the appended drawing of which:

Fig, 1 is a top plan View of the burner showing the safety device.

Fig. 2 is an elevational section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary elevatlonal section on line 3-3 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary top plan view of a slight variation of the safety device.

It will be understood that the above drawing illustrates merely a preferable embodiment of the invention and that other embodiments are contemplated within the scope of the claims hereafter set out.

Referring to the drawing, a burner is shown comprising a hollow doughnut shaped fluid tank .2; which, projects: upwardly, therethrou h-i as,i1lus.- trated iIiliig'., 2I.

Support I 21 with, a ba'se; l3? which, i positioned below the bottomrofe tank H. is;. cen'trally=joined to the centrallportione or; tank III, by. the. 3 angularlyarranged. connectingstruts Ill}. As shown in Fig. l-,.str uts l ft.haveza centrallbase,portionv I5} which is suitably, secured-Q, to? the. outside. wall. of support .1 2 in radially spaoedrelation v Thebifurcatedl portions of stnutse 1.4} extend: downwardly, angularly, anditheiri edges-1 are suit;- ably se'cured to-,iimen wall, i6 of; tank Ii. as by welding;

Solid... cylindrical. member Ills.- centrallypositioned within supports]; and; rests; upon, base; l3- with its; outer. walla. oon :entrically spaced; from the inner circularwallrof support-.12. providihgtheahnular cylindrical-recess]1k I Recess. It, extends.- the full length of; support: l2 and has positioned therein the anriular-v 1101- low cylindrical. fabric burner wick; i9. The-latter extends down into annular recess: [8 and is immersed in, the; liquid fuelgsuch-i'as kerosene. which: is, supplied. to the, bottonnportiom of re--; ce'ss' i8; of'siiiiIior-t l2 .lcy v conduit Hi -which extends? fromtankliLl'. g

The, fuel saturates; the.- b'ottom, portion; of wick I 9. and. rises, therein. by; capillary action to:- its upper'surface. where'itimaabeigniteuiand burned; in the conyentionalmannem.

Referring"; to Figs. 21 fridrii a sprocket. gear; 2b is. secured upb'hithe end ofrotatableshaft 2 2 and positioned. relative-- to, wick I 3.7 so that. itsteeth partially imbedi therein. Consequently: rotation of'ge'ar 2| clockwise effects an upward translation of wick I9 within its cylindrical annular recess I8. Also counter-clockwise rotation of gea; 2| eifects a downward translation of said W1C Hollow cylindrical fuel filling spout 23 extends down through an opening in the top surface of tank II and is secured thereto with its bottom portion being in spaced relation to the inner bottom surface of said tank as shown in Fig. 3.

A hollow cylindrical cap 24 is slidably and sealingly positioned within spout 23 and is adapted to vertical reciprocal movements therein. Cap 24 is open at its lower end and it is seen in the lowest position of cap 24, Fig. 3 that spout 23 is entirely closed off from the interior of tank I l.

Rack gears 25 and 26 are positioned or formed upon opposite sides of cap 24 with gear 25 being in meshing engagement with sprocket gear 21 carried at the outer end of shaft 22 within housll, having a centra1 hollow pedestal support I2 ing 28.

A second sprocket gear 29 in housing 32 is secured on the end of manually rotatable shaft 30 having handle 3|, and is operatively in mesh with rack gear 26 on cap 24.

To re-fuel tank H through spout 23 it is necessary to first remove cap 24 therefrom. This is accomplished by a clockwise rotation of handle 3| and gear 29 effecting elevation of said cap till it can be manually removed. At the same time that cap 24 is elevated it will be seen that wick I9 is eifectively lowered so as to completely extinguish the flame at its top peripheral edge to thereby eliminate the hazard of explosion durin the re-fueling operation.

Referring to Fig. 3, upward movement of cap 24 causes a counter-clockwise rotationof gear 21 which meshes with rack gear 25 on said cap. The movement of gear 21 is transmitted to gear 2! through shaft 22 whereby wick I9 is downwardly projected to or towards the .bottomvof opening I8 effectively extinguishing the flame. It is now safe to pour thefuel through spout 23 without danger of fire or explosion;

Furthermore, it will be seen that the wick can not be elevated for re-lighting until cap 24 is replaced and moved downwardly by a counterclockwise rotation of handle 3! and gear 29.

Here again downward movement of cap 24 effects a clock-wise rotation of gear 21 with the latter effecting a corresponding clock-wise rotation of gear 2! to eifectively elevate wick 19 to the proper height for igniting in the conventional manner.

It will be seen that tank H cannot possibly be refilled until wick is has been dropped to its lowest position and the flame thereon entirely extinguished. On the other hand, wick 19 cannot be re-ignited until the cap 24 is replaced within spout 23 and projected downwardly therein.

A slight variation of the safety device is illustrated in Fig. 4 wherein a sprocket gear 33 is carried at the outer end of wick operating shaft 22. Gear 33 meshes with rack gear 34, longitudinally carried on one side of tank cap 35.

A second sprocket gear, 36 is carried on the inner end of shaft 31 which also meshes with rack gear 34 but is positioned in spaced relation to gear 33 for independent movement.

Manual rotation of shaft 31 by handle 38 is thus adapted to raise and lower cap 35. Here also it is seen that wick l9 will be at its lowest position when cap 35 is at its uppermost position of travel in spout 23 for removal for relowering means comprising a removable cap re ciprocally slidable within said spout, a pair of rack gears on opposite sides of said cap, a manually rotatable gear meshing with one of said rack gears to effect movement of said cap Within said spout, and a rotative gear joined to said raising and lowering means and in mesh with the other of said rack gears for simultaneous rotation to lower the wick as said cap is elevated.

' 2. A safety device for a burner having a fuel spout on its tank, a wick and rotatable wick raising and lowering means comprising a removable cap reciprocably slidable within said spout, rack gears on said cap, a manually rotatable gear meshing with one of said rack gears to efiect movement of said cap within said spout,

and a rotative gear joined to said raising and lowering means and in mesh with the other of said rack gears to lower said wick simultaneously with said raising of said cap to permit its removal.

3. A safety device for a burner having a fuel spout on its tank and rotatable wick raising and lowering means comprising a rotatable shaft joined to said means, a removable cap reciprocally slidable within said spout, rack gears on opposite sides of said cap engageable with the interior surface of said spout, a manually rotatable gear on said spout and projecting thereinto to mesh with one of said rack gears, and a second rotatable gear on said shaft projecting into said spout and in mesh with said other rack gear.

ERNEST RIEMENSCHNEIDER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number V 

